My Brunei Experience

Well, as we arrived at the Brunei Airport. . . I was expecting something that would take my breath away.

Nope! Nothing very impressive, I still think our KLIA rocks big time. . .
Yes, with the Malaysia Boleh Spirit and What not!
But Seriously, nothing Grand.
I have already been warned about the reset of the country if not for the Airport at least.
So I wasn't expecting much when I stepped out of th eairport.


As we were in a long queue trying to clear the imigresen check, Chinni spotted Amma waiting for us..... Nun di sana! She was already looking out for us. . . Grabbed our bags and headed to the Exit.. There she was! Amma was all Smiles! Ear to ear. . . HUGGS for all of us... Could hear her excitement just from that smile.. Not see it.. But hear it!


Aunty T had loaned Amma her car for the time being. We headed straight for Dinner. An Indian Restaurant - Rangmahal located at Tutung. Close to where the Hotel La Galleria was. People running the restaurant were Indian Muslims from India.

Back to the Hotel, was nice place. Small and cozy.

As we entered, Amma who;s been there for 2 months close to 3, was already familiar with (I dare say) the entire hotel staff. Noor greeted us at the Reception with a huge smile, like she's known us for long. Then Adi came with smile and got all our bags. (I think I saw Amma actually give them some duit Raya in a green packets) Since they were off the next few days. She did it discreetly knowing well that we were going to nag her again for Unnecessarily doing the Mother Christmas thing.


Next day, though it was already Hari Raya in Malaysia and the rest of the Raya Celebrating countries, Brunei had to do it differently of course. They were celebrating it a day later.

Amma had to go to Uni. While Amma and Chinni went ahead, Papa and I decided to venture out a little. Discovered a Chinese Vegetarian Restaurant and had breakfast there.

Walked around and discovered, a supermarket that reminded me or a very run down version a Parkson Ria that once occupied a corner in Seremban.

But listen to this!

I was there for about 4 and a half days.

Not a single honk!

People just wait patiently in the car.

You want to cross the road? The car waits for you!

I mean coming from Malaysia, we tend to wait for the car to passby before we go, the few bold "The Road is Mine, You Can Wait" one would probably show their hands indicating that they are going to cross and go.

But here, in Bandar Seri Begawan, and the rest of Brunei, they wait !

Hello!!!

I'm not used to this! Not in an Asian / ASEAN country anyways.

Wait a minute! I could get used to this. . .

The Begining of a beautiful. . . And Boring journey , if I may say so myself.

So the next few days went something like this.

Aunty Eileen and Uncle Super, parents of my kindy buddy Adrian. They went to UPM and did TESL with Amma, moved here 9 years ago.

Aunty Eileen makes the yummiest Banana Chips! Not too salty or oily.
I told Amma, "Make sure she has them Chips for me!"
And she did. The next day, despite being told that we will visit them, she comes over with a tin full of her "Valakka Chips" (Banana Chips).
I was in heaven!
She looked at me and said, "Exact carbon copy of Sanda!" :)
But we already know that.


The next day, Uncle Super took us to Seria.
To go see the "Nodding Donkeys"
What?
What's that?
Why do we want to see Donkeys Nodd?
So it appears that the (oil) Pumpjack looks like the head of a donkey, well nodding. . .
That was an interesting tour.
The drive from BSB to Seria takes about an hour.

The houses surrounding Seria are mostly temporary structures. If they find oil there, then out you go. But this is the Brunei government we are talking about, and I am sure the residents will be paid well for it.

Later that afternoon, a short tour.

There was the Kampung Air (Water Village).. Ok - that's all I remember.

There's this mosque in Town that looks really beautiful.

Being a Muslim state, that's probably the only structure they think is worth spending the B$ on I suppose. Oh, and the Palace. Gold Plated Dome! That's where the rest of it goes to.

The People in Brunei.
In someway, I think no one place and be refered to as the Melting Pot anymore.
This place is full of foreigners.
Philipinos, Indonesians, Indians, Chinese, and more . . .they are all here.

Back at the Hotel. . .
There were people from various countries waiting to meet Madam Sanda's family. Yeap, they call Amma that.

Dr Khairuddin, lecturer from Indonesia.

Dr Sugumaran, skin specialist from Kerala, India.

Another Lecturer from Kenya. And a bunch of other people, I've lost track of who's who.

That whole floor was occupied by foreign workforce brought in by the Brunei Government.

Probably at some point in the future, people like these might end up with citizenships and eventually become locals, or at least their children would be.


Visit to Uncle Super and Aunty Eileen's.

They invited us over for lunch. Nice home cooked meal with Paavaka Poriyal (mine and chinni's fav)! It's fried bitter-gourd.

Got to see tons of Photos of Adrian, who is an Engineer in Australia with an Australian fiancee now. My mom and his dad would always tease us about that 1 photo of us in Kindy Uniform. Tadika Ho. The only memory I ever had of Adrian at that Kindy was this. . . He would cry like a girl not wanting to go! :)


A little shopping at Yayasan, somewhat Mall - like, but according to Uncle Super - It's not a mall.

Shopping. Nothing you cannot get here in Malaysia. If you earned in B$ it might be a little cheap. But if you were to convert, I'd rather shop here at FOS :).


The last night, Aunty T was back from her New York Tour. Took us to Gadung Mall to do some last minute shopping. aka Big clothes Shopping for me.

Then dinner at Tandoor.com. Nice posh looking place.
Was like a nice reunion, with Aunty T, Uncle Super and Aunty Eileen.

The next day was lunch at Aunty T's. Doesn't matter what all the other dishes were. She had some nice Big Juicy Prawns!
And to top it all up was Amma's Chicken Rendang.
This was our Deepavali for this year. The 4 of us together. This Deepavali, Amma won't be here and I won't be going back home. And the chicken rendang is a once a year Deepavali dish. Right there at Aunty T's flat was our 2008 Deepavali.
Amma packed some back for us.
I just finished the tupperware she gave me today, savoured every last bit!

So that's that. Not much about Brunei really.
But that doesn't mean I wouldn't go there again.

If you want a laid back life, and make $$. Brunei is the place.
As long as you have a good circle of friends with you, you can survive!